At 7pm on a recent Thursday in Indianapolis, some of the city’s arts lovers were still wrapping up a day at the office, while others were working out plans with a babysitter, or eating a pre-show dinner.
A different scene unfolded at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
At the Hilbert Circle Theatre, several hundred classical music fans were already seated, awaiting Music Director Jun Märkl to begin a program of Beethoven, Falla, and Strauss, Jr. The concert was hardly an early-bird outlier on the orchestra’s calendar: The same program on Saturday night would start at 5:30pm.
“We got a lot of feedback that 8pm is too late for a Saturday,” says Edward Parsons, the Indianapolis Symphony’s vice president of artistic operations. “So, 5:30 means you go to dinner after the show. You’re done at 7:30 and you have an 8pm dinner reservation. Audiences really like it and it’s our most popular time for classical concerts.”
Increasingly, orchestras around the U.S. are positioning themselves as a service industry that responds to audience’s lifestyle habits, which have trended earlier since the emergence from the pandemic. Performances at 7:30pm are now largely the norm in many arts and entertainment fields.

At the Boston Symphony Orchestra, concertgoers on Massachusetts Avenue head into Symphony Hall for a performance. Photo by Winslow Townson.
Broadway shows, once known for their rafter-rattling 11 o’clock numbers—the galvanizing star-in-the-spotlight numbers late in the show—have moved curtain times from 8 to 7pm, and some have added extra matinees or 5pm performances. The pandemic-era shift to early-bird dining—partly an outgrowth of earlier-to-bed schedules—appears to be going strong, with Yelp reporting last year that 10% of all diners were seated between 2 and 5 pm, double from the same period in 2019. The New York Times and Wall Street Journal have published trend pieces asking if 6pm is the new 8pm.
Orchestras have adapted to the new audience expectations. When the Houston Symphony experimented with earlier start times roughly a decade ago, the move proved unsuccessful and was reversed. But when the orchestra moved concerts from 8 to 7:30pm this season, administrators admitted this was not only welcomed, but a relatively conservative response to a patron survey showed that many listeners favored a 7pm start.

At the Houston Symphony, Music Director Juraj Valčuha leads a January 2024 performance of the Brahms Requiem. Photo by Melissa Taylor.
“We noticed it as an industry trend with both local and national organizations starting their performances earlier,” Alex Soares, Houston Symphony’s interim chief marketing officer, says of the recent shift. “There was also an ‘ease of access’ factor tied to transportation, childcare, and coordination with work schedules.” Houston also moved its matinees from 2:30 to 2pm in response to the survey. Feedback to the changes has been positive so far, says Soares, and concerts may yet shift even earlier, “but I think we’re at a good spot now with balancing schedules.”

Feedback to changes in concert start times has been positive so far, says Alex Soares, Houston Symphony’s interim chief marketing officer. Concerts may yet shift even earlier, he says, “but I think we’re at a good spot now with balancing schedules.”
At the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Thursday night concerts were moved from 8 to 7:30pm after a 2021 patron survey found that a significant majority of respondents preferred earlier weekday concert times (Saturday concerts remain at 8pm), according to Jesse Needleman, vice president of marketing, sales, and communications, and Michael Moore, associate director of marketing insights, at the BSO.

An audience member reads the program at an all-Beethoven concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The concerts started at 7:30 on Thursday night, 1:30 on Friday afternoon, and 8pm on Saturday. Photo by Robert Torres.

Music Director Andris Nelsons leads the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 1. Photo by Robert Torres.
The Early Bird Stigma Fades
Some arts managers may cringe at the geriatric stigma around the seemingly unfashionable start times, but seen another way, these reflect one of the many small but notable pandemic resets that have affected many forms of leisure. Nearly 14 percent of the labor force now works “primarily from home,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau, while other workers keep hybrid schedules, meaning that it’s easier (or even preferable) to get out and start the night earlier. (And remote work is still most common among highly-paid, corner-office dwellers, a key audience segment.)
But it’s not just an older-generation thing. Nightclubs, trendy dance spots, and too-cool-for-school live-music venues that didn’t even open their doors until 10pm are now hopping earlier in the evening with millennials, Gen Z-ers, and Generation Alpha folks who want to party—and head home before midnight.
“Our theory is really that people are just more and more accustomed to curating their experiences and having more choices in general,” says Gwen Pappas, vice president of communications and public relations at the Minnesota Orchestra, pointing to the on-demand nature of streaming entertainment and online shopping. “There are many ways in which a communal performing arts experience can’t be individually curated but where we are able to give people options. They really seem to appreciate it.”

“Our theory is that people are just more and more accustomed to curating their experiences and having more choices,” says Gwen Pappas, vice president of communications and public relations at the Minnesota Orchestra. “They really seem to appreciate it.”

Promotional material from the Minnesota Orchestra highlights earlier concert start times.
In 2023, the Minnesota Orchestra moved its Saturday night concerts to 7pm and introduced 2pm concerts on select Saturdays. Some subscription programs come with any of four different time options over a week: 11am, 2pm, 7pm and 8 pm. Adds Pappas, “We hear anecdotally from people who want to attend a matinee, so they are driving in daylight, or people who like going out to dinner after a 7pm concert.”

Music Director Thomas Søndergård leads the Minnesota Orchestra in Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony. Photo by Greg Helgeson.
Along with the emphasis on convenience, attitudes about downtown neighborhoods are a factor in the changes, says Parsons of the Indianapolis Symphony. “We’re trying to make it as appealing as possible for people to come because, like pretty much everybody else, we are not quite at a pre-pandemic [attendance] level, three years later,” he notes. “I don’t think we’re unique in that there’s been a general perception of downtowns in major cities as being less safe. That’s certainly a talking point around Indianapolis, and especially from people in suburbs. Whether or not it’s true, there’s certainly that public perception that downtown is dangerous and scary—and we’re downtown. So, adjusting those times a little earlier, does that help? Maybe.”

Music Director Jun Märkl leads the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky's Romeo and JulietFantasy Overture. Photo by Tom Russo.
A Longer-Term Trend
Earlier start times have been embraced by orchestras of all sizes and budget classes, from the New York Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony to the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Portland Symphony Orchestra in Maine. Yet until the 1980s, concerts routinely began at 8:30 or even 8:45pm at some orchestras across the country. After the shift to 8pm, the 1990s and early 2000s brought the emergence of “rush hour concerts” and late-night events, sometimes offered with drinks and soft lighting. In 2006, a New York Times critic reported that the Mostly Mozart Festival’s “A Little Night Music” concerts, held at 10:30pm, were “almost always sold out,” and raised a question: “Why should cabaret acts and jazz sets be able to start late, but not classical recitals?”
Now, the pendulum is shifting in favor of early birds. “We see much higher demand (particularly from single ticket buyers) for Sunday afternoon performances and tend to see lower attendance for evening performances,” Allison Page, the Portland Symphony’s director of marketing and communications, says in an email. She expressed cautious optimism about the orchestra’s recent move to 7pm start times, noting that “it’s a little early to make a definitive claim but anecdotally, it seems to have had a small positive impact.”

“We see much higher demand (particularly from single ticket buyers) for Sunday afternoon performances,” says Allison Page, director of marketing and communications at the Portland Symphony Orchestra in Maine.
Some concertgoers will recognize a certain quandary: what to do with the downtime between the end of the workday and an 8pm evening concert, even with a dinner squeezed in. The San Francisco Symphony discovered that an earlier start time helped to close that gap. “We’ve found that the 7:30pm concert start time is a nice balance for our patrons, allowing them time to get to Davies Symphony Hall after work or a meal out, but not leaving too much downtime between those activities,” said director of public relations Taryn Lott. Similarly, the orchestra moved its adventurous SoundBox concert series from 9 to 8:30pm.
In Indianapolis, a handful of concertgoers complained of having to rush from work to make the new Friday at 7pm curtain time. However, in moving Saturday pops concerts from 8 to 7pm, “we’ve gotten overwhelmingly positive feedback,” says Parsons. “It’s just nicer to get out before 10pm and get home a little earlier.”

In moving Saturday pops concerts from 8 to 7pm, “we’ve gotten overwhelmingly positive feedback,” says Edward Parsons, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s vice president of artistic operations.

Sara Galer, the Indianapolis Symphony’s vice president of marketing, onstage at one of the orchestra’s “Uncharted” concerts. Photo by Tom Russo.
As with any time change, it’s important to reinforce the new time through added messaging, adds Sara Galer, Indianapolis’ vice president of marketing. “And be willing to be flexible, because you will most definitely get people showing up at the wrong time.” In other words, be ready to offer Saturday tickets to the couple who arrive an hour late on a Friday.
Recognizing that even younger audiences aren’t necessarily looking for a late-night out, Galer notes that the orchestra’s “Uncharted” series, which features rock, pop, and rap fusions, along with a DJ in the lobby, starts at the still relatively early hour of 7:30pm. “That seems to be a sweet spot with those,” she says.